You Don't Know What You've Got Until It's Gone
by El Penguino
Summary: Claire finally gets up the nerve to forgive Charlie! But is it too late? CC. rated T for violence. Oneshot. possibly a continued story.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own LOST

Claire approached Charlie as he stood next to the ocean watching the waves crash upon the shore. It had been three weeks since they had talked and had their dispute. Life on the island had become especially more difficult for Claire, seeing as no one was there to help with Aaron all the time, except for when she was on good terms with Charlie, which made her a full-time mom with no breaks. She had finally worked up enough strength to ask him to come back. The closer she walked toward him the more nervous she got, but she had to do this.

"Charlie,may I talk to you?" she asked while holding Aaron to her chest.

"You're a little late for that." he replied in a stone, cold voice.

You looked at him in total confusion not knowing what had just happened and began to walk away when she heard Charlie's voice again, with her back turned to him.

"Had you asked me this yesterday you could have saved me, Claire." he stated.

"What do you…" she began to say as she turned around and found he was gone.

She looked up the beach and saw Hurley sitting on a log. She then walked up to him and asked him a question.

"Did you happen to see where Charlie went?" asked Claire.

"When did you see him, because I haven't since your little 'argument.'" stated Hurley.

"Thanks for your help. Would you mind taking Aaron?" she asked as she handed him the babe and walked away.

All she could think of is that he was in the jungle, so she followed her instincts and entered. She walked for about twenty minutes through the vines and all until she collapsed onto the ground and skinned her knee. She looked up and saw Charlie standing in front of her.

"Where did you run off to?" she asked in a frustrated voice.

"Nowhere." he retorted coldly.

"Ok, then where did you go to?" she asked.

"I think you should go back to the beach, Claire. The jungle has some very horrid sights." he said as he vanished in mid-air.

Claire stood where he was dumbfounded. She just stared with her mouth wide open to where Charlie once stood. _'How did he do that?'_ she asked herself. She decided to risk what Charlie had warned about and continued marching through and found Charlie once again.

She stormed up to him and stood no more than six inches from him and screamed, "What is going on her Charlie!" she asked as she put her hands on his shoulders.

She found that her hands went straight through his body and she looked at him in complete disbelief.

"It happened last night." he said "Had you got the nerve to talk to me yesterday, I wouldn't have done it." he said as he began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Follow me and you're sure to see something that will plague you with nightmares for months, possibly even years." he said.

"I'll risk it." she snapped as she walked up to him

"Ok, then follow me." he said as he hinted her to follow.

She did as she was told and they walked for more than thirty minutes and he stopped and stared Claire straight in her eyes.

"This is your last chance to turn back." he said. "Do you want to use it or continue?" he asked.

"I'll still come." she said as she stood next to him.

He stuck his hand out where two fern leaves collided and pulled them apart. This revealed a sight more gruesome than Claire had ever seen before. A form of Charlie's body was slumped onto the ground clutching a Virgin Mary statue with his slit wrists. Blood was everywhere, even where she stood. All she could do is stare in sheer terror as she looked around. His wrists had been slit by a razor, his face, a total contradiction to his body, looked peaceful and relaxed. He had taken the plastic off and used the actual metal piece. There was also a note in between the statue and his right hand. It read:

'_If anyone so happens to come across_

_this gruesome sight, they should know this;_

_I never began using after I became clean, I_

_did lie aboutcertain instincesand regret doing so,_

_and Claire, I would never hurt you or Aaron_

_when I told you I was clean I told the truth. I_

_Charles Pace age Twenty-Seven take my own_

_life in the middle of this sodding jungle where_

_my body may never be found' – Charles Pace_

"Suicide is an unforgivable sin, you know along with murder and this wasn't my first attempt at it. The first was a total fluke." he said as she pulled the note down from her face. "After I did this I surely have no chance of getting into Heaven. I'll probably wind up in Purgatory or Hell, but any of those two would beat the rejection I faced because of you. Who was the one who believed you when you had crazy dreams? It was me Claire and when the same thing happened to me you accused me of using again, which I never did. I cared about you; I even loved you and Aaron. Just keep that in mind." he said as he drifted away.

Claire awoke with her heart and breath racing to see who could go the fastest as she sat up. She looked around everything seemed normal, Aaron was asleep in his crib, her stuff was neatly organized, but this dream had frightened her so much that she couldn't just lay down and sleep, it all seemed so real. She decided a nice walk on the beach would help her. Once she got out of her tent and walked toward the beach it began to rain. She was ready to head back when she saw Charlie gazing off into the ocean.

She sprinted up to him, practically tackling him to the ground, wrapped her arms around his stomach and began to cry into his chest.

All Charlie did was rubbed her back and brushed his hands through her hair as she balled. _'This is great.' _he said to himself _'I think she's finally forgiven me.'_

As Claire looked up Charlie wiped away her tears with his thumb delicately. She smiled at him and he did as well.

"You're going to get sick." she said as she stuck her hand out to him. "Come back _'home' _with me?"

"I'd love to, love." he declared as they walked back to their 'home' hand-in-hand.

A/N Revie and perhaps I'll add another chapter


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back yay for updates! Still don't own LOST! And thanks for the lovely reviews!

The two of them sat inside Claire's tent and talked for hours about everything that had happened since the plane crashed, dwelling mostly on the past. Claire learned that Charlie had a niece and Charlie had helped raise her and Charlie learned that Claire had worked at a fast food restaurant prior to the crash.

"Well sad as this is Claire, I'm actually making money off of this crash." he chuckled.

"How is that?" she asked intrigued.

"Consumers are very strange, Claire. Once they learn someone dies they start buying their music like it's the best thing ever. For example Elvis Presley, the day people found out he'd died from an overdose he made millions and he still is even today."

"It's too bad that doesn't happen in the fast food industry." she laughed.

"Did you work at 'Fish and Fry' by any chance? I could have sworn I saw you there when we toured a few years back." he asked.

"Yes, I did embarrassingly enough. Charlie I have a question for you and I want you to answer it seriously. No sarcasm, which you're prone to." she said changing the conversation mood.

"Ask away, love." he said.

"Are you are or are you not using again?" she asked with her clear blue eyes staring at him.

"No, I'm not using again. Look, Claire, the only reason why I had that statue was to prove to myself that my religion is stronger than the drugs. It's kind of a bit of symbolism actually. I'd have to destroy my religion in order to get to the drugs, but nope I'm not using and I haven't been for three weeks." he said with glee.

"Oh Charlie I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I was such a fool. I should have believed you, but I let logic dominate what was in my heart." she cried as tears rolled down her cheeks.

At that precise moment Aaron began to fuss. He rolled while he waved his arms and legs.

"He couldn't have done this at a worse time." she mumbled as she pulled away from Charlie.

She turned around toward Aaron and lifted her shirt a little and allowed Aaron to feed. She turned around and began to talk to Charlie again.

"I can leave and come back in ten minutes if you'd like." stated Charlie feeling awkward.

"No, please stay. I don't mind you here at all. In fact I love it when you're here." she said as she smiled.

He smiled back, leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "I've been wanting to do that for so long." he said.

"Why didn't you just do it earlier then, after-all you are a big, bad Rock God." she mocked.

"You see that isn't exactly true. My brother and the other mates wanted our band to be a group of bad boys. I really wasn't the type so we had to hire consultants to make me seem like it, and another thing you're not going to believe is this. We'd just pay these groupies to say that we actually had sex. I've always wanted to wait until marriage, but it didn't happen. I met a girl who I thought was the one, then I stole from her and it was over after that." he said with a sigh.

"Wow, now I feel completely awkward, as you can see I did the same thing, except it was a guy and in my case it's obvious." said Claire as she blushed and looked down at Aaron.

"God, I'm such an idiot!" he yelled as he threw his hands into the air in frustration. "I'm sorry Claire I didn't mean to go that far with that conversation. I love you and Aaron to death." he smiled as he put his hand on her knee.

They stared at each other in silence until screams were heard from their fellow castaways accompanied by gunshots. Both looked at each other in complete shock until Charlie stood up.

"Stay here Claire, unless you feel as if you're in absolute danger!" he yelled as he ran out of the tent.

"Charlie!" she yelled.

He turned around and looked inside the tent and said, "Yes love?"

"I love you!" she screamed.

"I love you too." he said as he blew her a kiss and ran off.

Charlie ran toward the jungle where he kept all of his belongings since the argument. There he found the gun he had stolen and stuck it in the waistband of his jeans. He emerged back onto the beach where he saw a man who had captured Aaron and Claire. They were walking down the beach with Claire in tears. Everyone else had been rounded up and tied together against a tree. Charlie ran back into the jungle so he could see the beach and stalked along where they were walking.

"Let us go!" screamed Claire.

"I don't think so." laughed the man whose and was gripped tightly on Claire's wrist.

Once they were in the jungle a gun was fired and the man fell down onto the ground wailing in pain.

Charlie the came running out from his hiding spot and grabbed Claire's wrist. "Follow me." he commanded as they ran until they came to a group of tangled vines. "In here." he said as he helped her inside. "No one will be able to find you here unless you make any noise. Don't allow Aaron to cry or you will be found. I'm going to try to save everyone else."

"Don't do it Charlie! It's a suicide mission." she wailed.

"I have to Claire! I love you." he said as he kissed her forehead and sprinted back to the beach.

"What do you want from us!" yelled Sawyer.

"We want the woman and the baby." one of them said.

Another one of the strange men came running from the jungle.

"Bruno's been shot and killed and no one can find where she went." he reported to his boss.

"How is that possible? We rounded everyone up and they're all here.

"Perhaps we missed one?" asked the shorter man.

"I don't know what you want with Claire and her baby, but I can guarantee you we mean you no harm." said Jack.

"You're just saying that because you're all tied up and weaponless." the Boss chuckled.

"Well maybe if you hadn't stolen our weapons we'd still have them!" spat Sawyer.

"You'd better watch yourself we have people everywhere inside the jungle." the boss said to Sawyer.

"That's what you think!" yelled Charlie.

"Well here's the one we missed. How'd you do it? Did you run into the jungle like a coward?"

"No, I didn't. However I did manage to kill all of your men in the jungle." he bluffed.

"With what your bare hands? Don't get me wrong, but you're a little bit small for that." he chuckled.

"Actually, no I used this." said Charlie as he pulled out his pistol and shot the Boss and all of the other three men around.

Charlie untied all of the others and as soon as they were untied they all grabbed weapons off of the bodies of the dead.

"Great job Charlie." said Jack as he patted him on the shoulder.

"We need to hurry. I know where most of the men are hiding." said Charlie as he headed out into the jungle. Everyone else followed and searched for four hours until it began to turn to night. A noise was heard and they were greeted by the others who had Claire and Aaron. "Give them back to us!" screamed Charlie as he stormed toward the men. Once he was about five feet away ten of the twenty pulled out guns.

"Take one more step and we'll blow her brains out." threatened the man who held Claire.

"Just let her and the baby go!" yelled Charlie. "What has she ever done to you?"

"She hasn't done anything, but you have. You've killed four of our men." sneered another man.

"Then it's me you want, not her or the baby! Take me instead." he negotiated. He looked as Claire shook her head and began to cry.

"Fine! Tie him up and take all of his weapons away."

They shoved Claire to the ground and tossed Aaron next to her. Claire looked up as Charlie was led away.

"Don't do this." she whispered.

"I'm doing it for you, love." he said as was led deeper into the jungle. "I'll be fine."

Everyone else walked toward the beach in tears as a gun was fired accompanied by a moan and a thud.

"Charlie!" Claire wailed in agony. She began to run toward the shot, but was stopped by Jack and Locke. "I need to see him! I need to see him…" she said as she dropped down to her knees and cried.

"We'll get him in the morning." said Jack as he rubbed her back. "It's too dark now."

The group walked out of the jungle and onto the beach. They were in mourning now. Mourning of their fellow castaway and friend. Others were to get over it very quickly, but this was not Claire's fate; for she wept the entire night.

Strangely enough as did Aaron who was crying for the death of his father. The only one he had ever known; the one who gave up his life for he and his mother's lives.

Repaso por favor (Review Please)


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